Casual elections | New MPs are Albert Fenech, Marthese Portelli and Kristy Debono

Kristy Debono is the last and newest MP to be elected, in bye elections held today at the Naxxar counting hall for the seats vacated by Nationalist MPs elected on two constituencies.

Six seats on five districts have been vacated by the MPs who were successfully elected on two districts on 9 March.

Seven of the 19 nominations - Frans Agius, Stephen Spiteri, Joseph Falzon, Karl Gouder, Charlo Bonnici, Edwin Vassallo and Censu Galea - were MPs in eleventh legislature.

Incumbent Stephen Spiteri - contesting only against Frans Agius for the seat vacated by Lawrence Gonzi - was the first candidate to be confirmed MP today. The initial sorting of ballot sheets had immediately placed Spiteri at an advantage over Agius. This was the only district which Agius contested in these casual elections, meaning that he has now lost his seat in parliament.

At 10:39am, incumbent Charlo Bonnici was reconfirmed MP (1661 third count votes) beating Mosta mayor Shirley Farrugia by 450 votes.

By midday,  surgeon Albert Fenech (1970) was elected on the 10th district. Contesting on the 10th district was also incumbent Karl Gouder (1580). Gouder was also contesting the 9 district, along with Marthese Portelli and Kristy Debono, favoured to win the twin elections for the seats vacated by Simon Busuttil and Robert Arrigo.

With all eyes on the Debono and Portelli ballot sheets, a recount was asked after 23 votes were found missing. It turned out that a mistake was carried out on 10 March, with the mistake being carried forward today. The quota was then adjusted to 1,929.

By the third count, former PN MP Joe Falzon was eliminated together with Franco Galea and Charles Selvaggi. Leading this race for the seat vacated by Simon Busuttil was Marthese Portelli with 1,439 votes, followed by Kristy Debono with 1,081 votes, Joanna Agius with 447 votes and Karl Gouder with 429 votes.

Marthese Portelli eventually secured the district's first seat with 1,850 votes, beating Debono by just 35 votes. Debono took Arrigo's seat since a second casual election on this district was held.

The first count for the second seat on the ninth district started at 4pm. By 5:45pm, the first count was finalised with Debono gaining a staggering 1,576 votes against Joanna Agius's 761. However, with the quota being 2,091, a second count had to take place.

On district 12, the race was between incumbent Censu Galea and daughter Graziella, with Censu Galea eventually taking the seat with 1,972 votes. Graziella got 1,700 votes.

Stephen Spiteri was elected with 2,390 votes while Frans Agius obtained 1,349 votes.

Candidates on the 10 district were neck to neck with Karl Gouder at 987 first count votes, Albert Fenech with 919 first count votes and Joanna Agius with 768 first count votes. Eight candidates contested this seat vacated by George Pullicino. The second count saw Gouder's votes rise to 1,011, Agius's to 796 and Fenech's to 933. Former PN MP Joseph Falzon was out of the race.

The fifth count placed Karl Gouder on the front with 1,324 votes and Albert Fenech with 1,175 but here the alphabet factor kicked in and saw the majority of Joanna Agius's 1,080 ballot sheets being transferred to Fenech's pigeonhole. Eventually, Albert Fenech was elected to parliament.

The race on district 11 for the seat vacated by Joe Cassar, was between incumbent Charlo Bonnici (985 first count votes) and Mosta mayor Shirley Farrugia (772 first count votes). Also contesting this district were Edwin Vassallo (631 frist count votes), Ian Spiteri (331) and John Zammit Montebello (217). The latter two were eliminated after the first count.

After the second count, Bonnici obtained 1,195 votes, Shirley Farrugia got 907 votes while Edwin Vassallo got 807 votes. At the third count, former MP Edwin Vassallo officially lost his seat in parliament.

Later on during the day, PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil visited the counting hall in Naxxar.

The elections that took place were on district 2 for the seat vacated by Lawrence Gonzi; district 9 for two seats vacated by Robert Arrigo and Simon Busuttil; district 10 for the seat vacated by George Pullicino; district 11 for the seat vacated by Joe Cassar and district 12 for the seat vacated by Tonio Fenech.